FEATURED

"The Books that Changed My Life"

Shawn Speakman

Back to Full List of Authors Shawn Speakman grew up in the beautiful wilds of Washington State near a volcano and surrounded by old-growth forests filled with magic. After moving to Seattle to attend the University of Washington, he befriended New York Times best-selling fantasy author Terry Brooks and became his webmaster, leading to an enchanted life surrounded by words.

Shawn's Picks

The Shadow of the Wind

By:
Carlos Ruiz Zafon

Narrated by:
Jonathan Davis

Length: 18 hrs and 5 mins

Unabridged

Overall

4 out of 5 stars
4,498

Performance

4.5 out of 5 stars
3,325

Story

4.5 out of 5 stars
3,343

Barcelona, 1945: Just after the war, a great world city lies in shadow, nursing its wounds, and a boy named Daniel awakes on his 11th birthday to find that he can no longer remember his mother's face. To console his only child, Daniel's widowed father, an antiquarian book dealer, initiates him into the secret of the Cemetery of Forgotten Books, a library tended by Barcelona's guild of rare-book dealers as a repository for books forgotten by the world, waiting for someone who will care about them again.

4 out of 5 stars

Have the book handy

By
Rebecca
on
07-17-05

The Shadow of the Wind

"This is just a beautiful book from its opening page to its final. Every word, sentence, paragraph, and chapter is filled with magic. Lyrical and poignant, it is the coming-of-age tale of a boy who visits the Cemetery of Forgotten Books and is given the responsibility of protecting one tome his entire life. Then copies of his book begin disappearing all over the city. Shadow of the Wind showcases how language can be just as beautiful as story." --Shawn Speakman

Unfettered

Tales By Masters of Fantasy

By:
Terry Brooks,
Patrick Rothfuss,
Robert Jordan,
and others

Narrated by:
Peter Ganim,
Marc Vietor,
Bronson Pinchot,
and others

Length: 20 hrs and 16 mins

Unabridged

Overall

3.5 out of 5 stars
1,163

Performance

4 out of 5 stars
1,042

Story

3.5 out of 5 stars
1,052

You define life or it defines you. In Shawn Speakman’s case, it was both. Lacking health insurance and diagnosed with Hodgkin’s lymphoma in 2011, Shawn quickly accrued a massive medical debt that he did not have the ability to pay. That’s when
New York Times best-selling author Terry Brooks offered to donate a short story that Shawn could sell to help alleviate those bills—and suggested he ask the same of his other writer friends.
Unfettered is the result: An anthology built in order to relieve that debt, featuring short stories by some of the best fantasy writers in the genre.

1 out of 5 stars

A TRULY BAD COLLECTION OF DOGS

By
Randall
on
12-21-18

Unfettered

"Unfettered is a short story anthology featuring some of the best fantasy writers working today. It changed my life because it helped save it. I was diagnosed with cancer in 2011 and I lacked health insurance due to a pre-existing condition. The medical debt mounted. Writers came to my aid and donated stories. These writers showed me how powerfully good people can be even at the worst of times and for that I am changed forever." --Shawn Speakman

Books by Shawn:

The Dark Thorn

By:
Shawn Speakman

Narrated by:
Nick Podehl

Length: 17 hrs and 1 min

Unabridged

Overall

4 out of 5 stars
281

Performance

4 out of 5 stars
257

Story

4 out of 5 stars
260

Beneath the streets of Seattle, a long-forgotten war is about to be renewed...